Interview with Mustard Plug
After the release of the newest Mustard Plug CD, Pray for Mojo, I got the
opportunity to talk to Jim, Dave, Brandon, Colin, and Craig of Mustard Plug
to ask them a few questions about the release and just about the band in
general.
ADKG: First off, I'd just like to ask about something I've been curious
about. How did you guys start off? Did you like just jam as a garage
band, and eventually build up a following or something like that?
Colin: Dave and I used to go to the ska shows in Michigan like Bim Skala
Bim and the Toasters and stuff. We were both at seperate colleges at the
time and we got back to Grand Rapids and thought it would be cool to get
whoever we could find and play in a band just for fun. We started out with
like 12 guys at the first couple of practices. We never had any other
plans but to just play and goof around or whatever, and just hope to get
free beer somewhere along the way.
ADKG: Did you guys start off by saying you were gonna be a ska band, or
did your sound just evolve into whatever you guys ended up playing?
Jim: We started off being a ska band. We always had intentions of being a
punk influenced ska band, basically.
Colin: Yeah, pretty much our first CD, Skapocalypse Now, a lot of that's
like our first few months of goofing around.
ADKG: Did your new album title come from the Simpson's Episode?
Everyone: Yes!
ADKG: Do you guys have any plans of hitting the studio again in the near
future?
Everyone: No!
Craig: Maybe in about 2 years...
Dave: No, this just came out about a week ago, so we're just planning on
touring like crazy to get the word out about this album.
Colin: We're going to do a video in like a month or so. That's kind of a
release, I guess. It's a product.
ADKG: Do you guys think it's better to have songs with serious meanings,
or just songs that are just entertaining, like Skankin' Pickle?
Colin: We can do both!
Craig: I think there's a lot to be said for both. I think we tend to have
that balance pretty well. There's a lot more silly bands than us and
there's by far a lot more serious bands than us.
Colin: We just try to find a good balance. That way we don't get too
bogged down and too burned out with a lot of stuff. It's nice to have a
little side area to go into and just be goofy sometimes.
ADKG: What do you guys think about the ska scene right now, as far as
bands that are selling out and going mainstream? What are your viewpoints
on that?
Craig: That it's done.
Jim: They still wanna sell out, but no one wants to buy it anymore!
Brandon: I think it's a lot stronger than it was just because it was
forced to go back underground again.
Craig: We just kind of predicted that the bands that had been around for a
long time and touring would like totally just pull through all that and
keep being able to do what they're doing and keep being successful. And I
think that's kind of happening now; the trend's like pretty much over, and
the major labels aren't racing to sign ska bands, but we can still go on
tour on Hopeless and hope to do bigger shows than we did our last tour.
Brandon: The whole punk rock scene has just been going forever without the
help of the major label money, so it's not going to end.
ADKG: That's basically all I had to ask, unless you guys wanted to add
something.
Colin: Come see us!
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